How do I know that the content of the September 11 Digital Archive is factual?
Every submission to the September 11 Digital Archive — even those that are erroneous, misleading, or dubious — contributes in some way to the historical record. A misleading individual account, for example, could reveal certain personal and emotional aspects of the event that would otherwise be lost in a strict authentication and appraisal process. That said, most people who take the time to submit something to the September 11 Digital Archive share the goal of its organizers — that is, to create a reliable and permanent record of responses to the 9/11 attacks — and therefore most contributions are authentic. Nevertheless, as with any historical sources (including, for example, newspaper accounts), there are always questions about reliability, and all researchers need to evaluate their sources critically. It is for this reason that the Archive harvests metadata from every contributor — including name, email address, location, zip code, gender, age, occupation, date received — and
